National Museum of Scotland '˜expertise' key to landing viking hoard

A museum director has defended the decision to assign a 1,000-year-old Viking hoard unearthed in Dumfries and Galloway to Scotland's national museum in Edinburgh.

Picture: TSPL

Gordon Rintoul, director of National Museums Scotland (NMS), said only the capital had the expertise to restore and conserve the valuable 10th-century artefacts.

Earlier this month, the Queen’s and Lord Treasurer’s Remembrancer (QLTR) - the body which rules on ownerless goods and property - decided the 100 or so items should be allocated to NMS, provided it raises the funds to pay £1.98 million to metal detectorist Derek McLennan.

Mr Rintoul said NMS was in dialogue with Dumfries and Galloway Council about proposals to lend a “representative portion” of the hoard to the Kirkcudbright Art Gallery.

“Our plans are not that we somehow acquire and keep it all in Edinburgh, that’s not the case at all,” he said.

He conceded it was “impossible” to say at the moment what items that might involve as significant conservation work was needed and it was unclear what material would be suitable for travel and display.

“Until we have actually gained possession of the hoard, which wouldn’t be until we raise the money, we cannot actually undertake the survey work, the conservation assessment, to determine what can be displayed where, when and for how long.”

Asked why that work could not take place outside Edinburgh, he added: “No-one else has the expertise.

“Dumfries and Galloway Council’s museum service over the past decade has been reduced in size significantly.

“They have no conservation laboratory, no conservators and they have no curators with expertise in Viking age material.”

He added: “In our view, what our proposal means is actually using our resources to benefit other museums and other communities, and that seems to be a right and proper approach for a national museum in a country like Scotland to undertake.”